The Meadows, Sierra Lutheran win appeals to stay in Class 2A, 1A

The Meadows and Sierra Lutheran received unanimous approval from a nine-member Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association board Tuesday to remain in Class 2A and Class 1A, respectively, for the 2018-20 sport alignment.

The two schools had been bumped up a classification by count of enrollment, but each won their appeal Tuesday afternoon at Sunset Station.

“We’re very proud members of 2A and it was real nice to have a couple of our members that were there kind of coaxing us through what we needed to say,” The Meadows interim athletic director Jack Concannon said.

Concannon, whose school would have been moved to Class 3A, got strong support from league athletic directors Bill Darrow (Needles) and Jeff Newton (Lake Mead) after speaking at the podium. Darrow attended the meeting as the Class 2A liaison, while Newton went as the private school liaison.

Concannon highlighted his school’s strong academic standards and its no-cut policy during tryouts before insisting that it’s “not an athletic factory.”

Darrow and Newton immediately came to The Meadows’ defense, with Darrow telling the board, “the majority of people in our league want to keep them down.”

Concannon was appreciative of his rival schools.

“We’ve got some really strong friends in the 2A,” said Concannon, who also coaches football for the Mustangs. “We’re happy to be where we’re at.”

Sierra Lutheran, which would’ve been moved to the Class 2A Northern League, stayed in Class 1A.

One amendment in rubric scoring was also passed Tuesday for tennis and golf, or “individual-based sports.”

Teams that forfeit league games — because of low numbers or lack of participation — but still earn a No. 4 playoff seed will not be awarded a rubric point for simply making the playoffs.

The board also decided that an emergency meeting will be held electronically before the end of the fall season (Dec. 2) to discuss other rubric scoring items that could potentially create conflicts because of language and wording.

NIAA assistant director Donnie Nelson asked whether Clark, Faith Lutheran, Sierra Vista and Spring Valley would be protected from being moved up to Class 5A for football in the next alignment. The four schools are protected in other sports, but Nelson raised concerns since football will be its own entity.

During the public comment opportunity, Faith Lutheran athletic administrator Bret Walter formally asked for the Crusaders to be moved up to 5A during the next cycle.

Nelson also wanted to clarify rubric scoring in 12 or 14-team giant leagues and how different — or similar — it would be to rubric scoring when regions are broken down into Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast leagues.

A date for the emergency meeting wasn’t announced, but board members and the NIAA agreed they need to convene before the next formal meeting in January.

“I’ll take a look at that when we get back,” NIAA executive director Bart Thompson said. “(Nelson) and I need to sit down and kind of take a look at where it should go and come up with some alternatives for them to decide upon. I’d anticipate it will probably come sometime in the middle of October.”

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter.